bigfluffylemon wrote:Arthur Crabtree wrote:andy wrote:Word now is that Buttler will bat 3....put a batsman at 3! Use Denly that's what he is there for!
Sudden change in role for JB2 from when he was recalled!
Well, we've tried every other round peg for the square hole that is number 3, why not Jos?
While England are in a position where they cant really break the top order anymore than it has been broken for a while, the common thread with all these batsman in the team is that, the lower down they have generally gone, the better they have all performed. There is also a pretty established link with many of them to their peak performance coming in more aggressive play.
Take Joe Root, at 1-3 he strikes at 49. He averages considerably lower in these slots. At 4-5, he strikes above 60, and averages 50 and 71 in 4-5 respectively. Moeen Ali has batted everywhere, but its a similar story. When confronted with batting in the top order, the SRs are lower, the average plummets. Lower down the middle order, his average peaks at 40, and the SR becomes more aggressive. Stokes has only really worked at 6. Bairstow only works at 6-7. I think again (without looking in a while) both would show heavier firepower on average in these slots.
The higher in the order you go, the more likely you have to apply patience to your batting. The ball is going to move more, the bowlers have a bit more freshness and zip. When confronted with these situations, our aggressive players have not displayed great techniques to stay in long enough to play the types of innings you want at the top.
A brilliant example would be in the tests in the summer, when England moved everyone up at the Rose Bowl. Jennings went for a duck. Root came in with the ball moving a bit probably in the first 1-2 overs, he was out to a no ball straight away which India had reviewed, he was out about 2 balls later but India didnt review it after losing one, and then scored a couple of runs before he was finally given lbw. Bairstow came in and couldnt lay a bat on anything, and went for hardly anything. Ben Stokes at 5 and edged about 10 balls just short of fielders before heading back.
None of these batters seems capable of defending their wickets for long against a good new ball attack making the ball move. They all, to a man, have to seize the initiative by playing strokes hard, and setting the tempo. Even Root never really looks that good in defending, he only ever looks in fine touch when he's stroke making around the ground.
So yeah, you can try any of them at 3, but not sure why any shout one drop at you. They will either scrappy defend and probably run into trouble, or will try to hit themselves out of it, none of which scream long term tactical sense.
One drop is a specialist position. Its where you want, imo, the guy in your team who can bat the longest. The best technique and the best proven ability to turn starts into match winning scores. Annoyingly, Root just doesnt fit the mould, as he wants to play too many shots, but neither really does anyone else.